Marvel Entertainment Names New Editor in Chief

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C.B. Cebulski, the new editor in chief of Marvel Entertainment.CreditCreditMarvel Entertainment

By George Gene Gustines

Nov. 17, 2017

Marvel Entertainment, the home of Captain America, Spider-Man and the X-Men, among other colorful heroes, is undergoing a change in leadership. The company released a statement Friday announcing the appointment of C. B. Cebulski as editor in chief. Mr. Cebulski is replacing Axel Alonso, who served in that role since 2011 and is leaving Marvel.

“It’s crazy. It’s an honor. I’m blown away by the opportunity,” Mr. Cebulski said in a telephone interview from his home in Shanghai. He said he wants to foster talent at each step of creating a comic. “We always hear about the writers and artists, but people forget the inkers and the colorists and the letters,” he said. “Each of them is an artist in their own right.”

After a stint as a translator and a freelance writer, Mr. Cebulski joined Marvel full time in 2002 as an associate editor. In 2011, he became the vice president of international brand management for the company. In his new role, Mr. Cebulski will be responsible for the editorial and creative side of Marvel’s publishing division. His duties will include recruiting new talent and helping shape the ongoing sagas of the company’s heroes.

It is work similar to what Mr. Cebulski was already doing on a global level, Dan Buckley, the president of Marvel Entertainment, said in a separate telephone interview. Mr. Cebulski negotiated publishing agreements in Japan, China and South Korea that will establish local characters, in their own adventures but in sync with Marvel’s plans.

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The Runaways, a group of teenagers who learn their parents are villains, are the subject of a Marvel comic adapted into a series for Hulu that begins Nov. 21.CreditMarvel Entertainment

“It is important for our growth,” Mr. Buckley said. Mr. Cebulski is “not a new guy, but he looks at the world differently than a traditional editor,” he said. And most critically, he added, Mr. Cebulski “knows how to put together creative teams to spark the right mojo.”

One of Mr. Cebulski’s biggest successes at Marvel was publishing Runaways, by the writer Brian K. Vaughan and the artist Adrian Alphona. The critically acclaimed series, about teenagers who find out their parents are villains, is the basis of a Hulu show that will have its premiere Tuesday.

“I remember when the pitch came in from Brian. It blew us away,” Mr. Cebulski said. The success of Runaways continues to delight him. “It was the little book that could — and now it’s the little book that’s turned into a TV show.”

Mr. Buckley was judicious in describing the change in leadership, which the statement described as a mutually agreed upon parting of ways. Mr. Alonso saw “some of our top two or three sales years of all time,” Mr. Buckley said.

As one of the public faces for Marvel, Mr. Alonso sometimes found himself at the forefront of controversies. In April Marvel took a beating on social media after seeming to link poor sales to a lack of enthusiasm for newer characters who were female or had diverse backgrounds. In fact, it was a handful of retailers in a small subset of comic-shop owners who felt that way.

In May 2015, Captain America’s temporary alignment with Hydra, a Nazi-like organization, was received so poorly that Marvel had to release a statement indicating to readers that the good Captain would return. “We want to assure all of our fans that we hear your concerns about aligning Captain America with Hydra and we politely ask you to allow the story to unfold before coming to any conclusion,” it read. Captain America’s heroism was restored this past August.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page C3 of the New York edition with the headline: Marvel’s Superheroes Are Getting a New Boss. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe